Affiliate marketing has become an essential customer acquisition channel underpinning the rapid expansion of the online casino sector over the past decade. As regulation opens up new markets and competition intensifies, the ability to cost-effectively attract new players at scale is critical for operators’ continued success. Affiliate partnerships allow online casinos to tap into publishers’ audiences and pay purely performance-based commissions, aligning incentives to drive ROI.
Rise of Online Casinos
Propelled by technological advances, regulation and changing consumer behaviors, online platforms like Casino SpinBet have witnessed explosive growth:
- The global online gambling market size swelled from $24 billion in 2014 to $66.7 billion in 2020.
- Europe accounts for over 50% of the world’s online gambling revenues which reached €22.2 billion in 2020.
- In the UK alone, the remote gambling market was worth £5.7 billion in 2020.
Driving this growth is an increasing migration from land-based to online channels, accelerated by recent lockdowns. As the market matures, competition is intensifying with hundreds of sites vying for market share. Standing out requires substantial, sustained investments in customer acquisition.
Role of Affiliates
Affiliate marketing programs have emerged as online casinos’ most important promotional channel for player acquisition by allowing brands to tap into publishers’ preexisting audiences.
- They enable brands to only pay partners based on the actual value they deliver, i.e. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Revenue Share (RevShare) arrangements.
- These performance-based models incentivize affiliates to drive high-value players. Top partners have teams constantly testing creatives and offers.
- By leveraging publishers’ audiences and expertise, brands can scale customer acquisition without large upfront costs. Partners only get paid if they deliver actual results.
Over time, affiliates have become an integral part of online casinos’ marketing tech stack:
| Channel | Share of New Player Acquisition |
| Affiliate Networks | 30-60% |
| Paid Social | 10-30% |
| Paid Search (SEO) | 10-30% |
| Direct (Owned Media) | 10-30% |
Why Affiliate Marketing Works
The success of affiliates in promoting online casinos comes down to 3 key strengths:
-
Audience Leverage
Partners allow brands to tap into their existing, engaged visitors and subscribers they’ve built over time, drastically expanding reach. Top affiliates attract millions of visitors monthly.
-
Targeting Capabilities
Through data and experience, affiliates understand their audience’s motivations and interests. They create content and offers tailored to personas’ preferences to boost conversion rates.
-
Optimized Funnels
Top partners A/B test multiple creatives and flows to engage audiences. They lead visitors through multi-step funnels before presenting casino offers to prime high-intent sign-ups.
Evolution of the Affiliate Model
While the fundamentals remain the same, the depth of the affiliate-brand relationship has evolved over time:
- Traditionally transactional interactions are giving way to strategic partnerships between operators and their best affiliates.
- Leading online casinos share data-driven insights to help partners optimize targeting and creatives.
- Custom landers, bonus packages and creatives boost conversion rates.
- Progressive tiers incentivize affiliates to drive incremental value after sign-ups.
- Lifetime RevShare deals reward partners for creating lasting player value.
This shift towards mutually beneficial relationships drives better ROI for casinos and higher incomes for their partners.
Path Forward
Rather than competing solely on bonuses or brands, operators now focus more on UX, game variety, withdrawal speeds and omnichannel experiences to satisfy and retain players in a crowded market.
Affiliates remain the primary lever for igniting growth by tapping into proven audiences to minimize player acquisition costs. As competition grows even fiercer, brands will further rely on affiliates’ audiences, expertise and optimization capabilities to achieve efficient scale. Those failing to develop their affiliate channel risk falling behind.
The symbiotic relationship between online casinos and affiliates through performance marketing ushers in the next stage of the industry’s maturity and growth worldwide.
